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After a little hunt for tips on optimizing the composting process, I found a short article which covers dimensions and ratios to a useful degree of detail. Below is an excerpt from the compost article.

Ingredients for the compost heap (no matter what method is used) are :

Organic materials – anything that has been alive can be composted! – but like making a cake, there needs to be some balance in the ingredients. The two broad categories of compost materials are high-Carbon (woody, brown, dry) to high-Nitrogen (fresh, wet, green). The microbes that work in the compost digester need a starting ratio of approximately 30 Carbon to 1 Nitrogen to make protein (ie their body mass) – thus as good heap designers, this is what we should be aiming for as an overall ratio. If you want to start getting really technical, you can analyse the compost ingredients. As each have their own balance of C/N, the overall ratio of the assembled heap needs to be adjusted accordingly (see table).

Material C/N ratio

• Sawdust 450
• Paper 150
• Straw 100
• Leaves 60
• Fruit wastes 35
• Lawn clippings 20
• Food wastes 15
• Weeds 19
• Chicken litter (typical) 10
• Cow manure 12
• Chicked manure (no straw) 7

References

• http://permaculture.org.au/2005/09/11/fast-compost-soil-permaculture-design-and-maintenance/

Wow. This low power (10W) indoor composter looks great. It would be an awesome addition for the ecoubanist looking to minimize the amount of waste in their kitchen.

I love my worm composter but it can’t keep up with the amount of organic waste that Lisa and I produce. The Nature Mill is pricy ($359 - $399) but there is volume discounts at quantities of 3 and 12. If anyone wants to go in on a volume order, leave a comment and when we reach 12, I’ll organize the order.

Alternatively, they are coming to Canada soon and available over the web at Home Depot. Nature Mill wasn’t sure how much the retail cost would be.

The $400 - $500 price tag will be a deterrent for all but the most dedicated. I’m all for local production (it’s made in the US) but I think the price barrier will keep the Nature Mill from being widely adopted. Perhaps we’ll see a made in China knock-off for 1/4 the price down the road or some government incentives to push the price down. Then it will be an option for the average household.